January 4, 2010 -
What do one billion gallons of water, nineteen reservoirs, three controlled lakes and 6,500 miles of water pipes, tunnels and aqueducts have in common? They’re all managed by the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, and Connie Fitzgerald, Director of Communication and Marketing, helps to support the City’s water supply in many ways, including working with local productions that are interested in utilizing DEP’s resources.

Fitzgerald, who joined DEP in 2007 to set up the communications and marketing unit for the agency, works with her team to deliver key DEP messages, create marketing campaigns that support DEP’s initiatives and develop, implement and evaluate communication strategies and collateral materials that positively present DEP’s messaging in various media. One way they’re doing this is by working with film productions.

“Film and TV shooting is an important industry for the City, and DEP works diligently to support it,” said Fitzgerald. One very basic task the DEP undertakes is issuing permits to open fire hydrants so a production can have access to water while shooting on the street, but over the past six to eight months, DEP has been very busy with actual filming on its sites.

One popular location is the Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. “It’s the home of the iconic digester ‘eggs’ that are illuminated in blue every night,” explained Fitzgerald. “Our very first production at the plant was our own: a PSA with an anti-litter message that features Blue Man Group and the digesters.” That PSA will “debut” after the first of the year. Since that time, four movies have shot at the space: Fair Game, Salt, Wall Street 2 and Iron Man 2. “Each has provided some memorable moments and more importantly, we’ve learned something from each experience.”

Fitzgerald explained that the best part of working with the various film and television productions is introducing people to the work of DEP. “We interact with every New Yorker and visitor to the City all day every day but so much of what we do is unnoticed: the water supply is over 100 miles away up in the Catskills and the 13,000+ miles of tunnels and pipes that deliver it and take it away to the wastewater treatment plants are all underground,” she said.

According to Fitzgerald, filmmakers are surprised that DEP can offer such diverse locations. “DEP’s facilities [in the City] can provide rough urban landscapes and constructions sites, and the manhole covers are pretty popular too,” she said. “Many of our plants have beautiful views of the skyline and others have lengthy underground tunnels and corridors. I especially enjoy participating in the location scouts to see how a set designer or a director can see one of our facilities so differently.

“We welcome the opportunity to continue working with the MOFTB and supporting the industry that is vital to NYC!”